Belgian Business Contact Day and Catalogue Exhibition at LCCI

Lahore:  The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Belgian Embassy on Tuesday jointly organizsed Catalogue Exhibition and Contact Day  which was visited by a large number of LCCI members.
The Trade Commissioner of Belgian Embassy Abid Hussain and LCCI President Mian Nauman Kabir jointly inaugurated the Catalogue Exhibition along with Senior Vice President Mian Rehman Aziz Chan and Vice President Haris Ateeq. LCCI Executive Committee Members were also present on the occasion.
Well over 100 Belgian companies including Alphatronics, Lebrun, IPEC, KCC, Intraco, NutriForce, VEOS ActiPro, Empro Europe, ZingaMetall, Modular Lighting, Artsound, Raxol Vroman, Hamlet, Vyncke, VH Global, Vertexco, The Belgian Chocolate Group, Prefamac, Choc-Ickx, Delafaille, Dibo, Televic, Evapco, Olympia, Entrematic Dynaco, Medimio, Icasa, Liquisol, Fertikal, Polysto, Trislot, Khan International, Nestaan, GBA, Azingro, Sluys Int’l, Vandelis, Solina, Trifecta IC Group,Gedimex, Begro,Haelvoet, LET, BontexGeo, AVR, Belintra, Orfit, Urban Crops, Transmare, Novosanis and others displayed their catalogues.
Speaking on the occasion, the Trade Commissioner of Belgian Embassy Abid Hussain said that Belgian companies have shown keen interest in Pakistani market. Pakistani businessmen should step into joint ventures with their Belgian counterparts.
Abid Hussain said interest of Belgian businessmen in Pakistan is growing. He said Belgium is one of the largest trading partners of Pakistan in European Union. Underlining the importance of trade and economic ties between the two countries, the Trade Commissioner said that both the countries should identify more areas for cooperation and should also introduce more tradable items to enhance mutual trade volume.
LCCI President Mian Nauman Kabir said that the Catalogue Exhibition basically focuses on familiarizing the domestic business community about more than 100 Belgian Companies representing key areas of economy including Textile machinery, chemicals, industrial raw materials for food & pharmaceutical industries, food products, food processing machinery, agricultural products & machinery, metals & metal working machinery, industrial plants, hospital equipment, pharmaceutical products, IT & telecommunications solutions, building and construction machinery etc.
Mian Nauman Kabir said that Belgium enjoys a key position in the European and international economy. Belgium is one of the six founding countries of the European Union and home to many international organizations including NATO. He said that Brussels is not only the capital of country but it also houses the European Commission which is the executive body of European Union.
He said that Pakistan and Belgium have been steady investment and trading partners for the last many years. Belgium is ranked at 6th places both among the top exporting and importing countries for Pakistan in EU.
The LCCI President quoted that traditionally, the bilateral trade between the two countries has been in favour of Pakistan. As per the statistics available by State Bank of Pakistan, the trade volume between Pakistan and Belgium has just crossed 1 billion dollars during 2020-21 as compare to 824 million dollars in 2019-20. Pakistan’s exports to Belgium have increased from 516 million dollars in 2019-20 to 583 million dollars in 2020-21 while the imports also increased form 306 million dollars in 2019-20 to 419 million dollars in 2020-21.
He said that the major items of Pakistan’s exports to Belgium are readymade garments, home textiles, hosiery items, rice, woven fabrics, tobacco, sports goods and cotton yarn etc. The items that are imported from Belgium include pharmaceutical products, weaving machines, waste of iron & steel, agricultural machinery, articles of plastic, electrical and electronic equipment etc.
“This initiative will not remain limited to holding catalogue exhibition”, Mian Nauman Kabir said and called for regular exchange of trade delegations to enhance the existing trade and investment relations between two countries.
He also appreciated continuous liaison of the Belgian Embassy with LCCI and efforts for organizing today’s event in the best mutual interest of the business communities of the two countries.
LCCI Senior Vice President Mian Rehman Aziz Chan said that Belgian Business contact Day and Catalogue Exhibition will certainly help the businesses of both countries in getting a better understanding of each other’s markets and identify the potential areas which can be tapped for increasing the mutual trade volume.
He said that Pakistan and Belgium have cordial relations and have been steady trading partners since long. “After a gap of few years, we are finally able to regain the bilateral trade volume of 1 billion dollars plus between the two countries”, he added.
Mian Rehman Aziz Chan said that it presents a great opportunity particularly to our medium and small sized businesses to use the Belgian market as a vital source for importing raw materials and machinery to enhance their production levels. This will also help our small businesses to not only contribute in increasing the GDP growth but also in enhancing our exports.
LCCI Vice President Haris Ateeq said that the global imports of Belgium are around 400 Billion dollars while the share of our exports is slightly more than 400 million dollars. He said that this global standing of Belgium in world trade essentially means that there is a huge potential to increase Pakistan’s exports to Belgium. Likewise, there is also a tremendous potential for Belgium to become the main supplying market for our imports of essential raw materials, Engineering goods, machinery and variety of services etc.